Memory in the Next Body
Memory of this life in the next body will, more than likely, not be there. Why? Because the next body will be created without a memory chamber which supports information from the previous life.
Some yogis, a few, can access memory from one or more past lives but they do so by breaching sealed memory chambers in the subtle body. These chambers are in the subconscious area of the subtle body. Presently we have a surface and a storage memory for most of what happens in this life, but those compartments are dual, being physical and subtle. The physical ones will be lost once the body dies. The subtle ones will be accessible for a time and then will not be available except by special mystic access.
I was in a discussion with a deceased man whom I knew some forty plus years ago. He wanted to know if he would retain memory of his past physical life once he becomes an embryo and is born again through parents on the physical side. I told him that the process of rebirth does not include coherent access to the memory from the past life. This memory is sealed in the subtle body. Its presence there is inaccessible. What is available is the instinct one developed in the past life. That instinct is an impulsive format which arises as particular types of behavior based on predispositions.
The course of rebirth is such that in the hereafter, immediately after the death of the physical body, one has some memory of the physical life. Even though the memory circuits in the brain were destroyed by cell disintegration, still the subtle body carries with its many memories. But as soon as the person is attracted into the subtle body of one of the parents, the access to those memories is disabled, so that there is no memory. This is a thorough inaccessibility. It is so complete that at birth, the person has no recall of what happened previously. It is as if he/she is a new person with no history except the one which will be created after the birth of the his/her embryo body.
We read however that as a newborn child Krishna knew the history from past lives, but he is the exception. The convention is no access to memory of past lives. One relies on instincts in the new life. Hence a yogi should be sure to develop instincts which are desirable so that in the next life his behavior will be as desired. He/She cannot rely on coherent memory.
I experienced where someone who was related to me as a senior relative, departed from his body, took an embryo and then during that state and just after as an infant of a woman, his subtle body assumed its previous adult format and challenged me. That happens but even though this occurs, still that person has no coherent understanding of the incidence. He/She cannot figure it sensibly. It is experienced as unconnected images and ideas in the mind. There is no coherence of it for the infant.
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- · Michael Beloved
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Question:
Sir, while thinking further, I came up with a question as to how the karmas of previous birth influences the present birth in this physical world, when the memories of the previous birth are sealed.
Reply:
The memories of the previous birth are sealed to a limited mind, even to the limited man of the person concerned. However, it is not sealed to supernatural people (devatas) and to deities (paramatmas). There is a verse in Bhagavad Gita:
श्रीभगवानुवाच
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि
जन्मानि तव चार्जुन ।
तान्यहं वेद सर्वाणि
न त्वं वेत्थ परंतप ॥४.५॥
śrībhagavānuvāca
bahūni me vyatītāni
janmāni tava cārjuna
tānyahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
na tvaṁ vettha paraṁtapa (4.5)
śrī bhagavān — the Blessed Lord; uvāca — said; bahūni — many; me — of Me; vyatītāni — transpired; janmāni — births; tava — your; cārjuna = ca — and + arjuna — Arjuna; tānyahaṁ = tāny (tāni) — them + aham — I; veda — I recall; sarvāṇi — all; na — not; tvaṁ — you; vettha — you remember; paraṁtapa — O scorcher of the enemies
The Blessed Lord said: Many of My births transpired, and yours, Arjuna. I recall them all. You do not remember, O scorcher of the enemies. (4.5)
This means it is sealed to a limited entity (jivatma) but it is open for viewing by higher entities.
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As to how/why the sealed memories still have an effect on the present and future, that happens because of two aspects:
- force propelled when the action is first committed
- potency stored for later use when the action is first committed
There are immediate repercussions. These produce other waves which travel in time and cause favorable or unfavorable reactions to the actor and to others in the same or in other environments.
Some of the action is stored, so that it is delayed but then it is activated later in a future time or future life. This occurs irrespective of if the actor is aware of the movements or not.
These complexities were explained in detail in the Anu Gita.